*Says Diya, Olanrewaju have suffered enough
*’The way out of Yoruba marginalisation’
Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), 85, is a former military governor
of the defunct Western Region in whose time Chief Obafemi Awolowo was
released from prison and made to join the General Yakubu Gowon
government as Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of
the Federal Executive Council. Adebayo, a civil war general and President,
Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), spoke, in this interview at his Ikeja GRA,
Lagos home, on how the release of the former premier of Western Region
happened, the state-of-the-nation, the security challenges facing Nigeria,
corruption and the South- West integration programme. Excerpts:
By Bashir Adefaka
You were in charge of what has today become six-states of the South-
West as military governor of Western Region and so should have an idea
of how to achieve the integration in the former Western Region without
necessarily breaching the unity of Nigeria against the insinuation of some
people. What is your take?
Well, you have said it all. It is true that I was governor of Western Region,
which is now split into six states. At that time when we were asking for
states, other regions were asking for states as well. We thought that
creating more states was a good thing because it would help the states
economically, spread the economy of the region and bring development
quicker, and then, it would enable the people to work harder for their
states. And I think this is what we should still do.
What we should do now is to develop the economy because, if we do, it
will give employment to our youths coming out of school and make people
work harder than before.
Continuing to do exactly what you have said has informed the move by
governors of the states of the South -West to integrate to be able to
achieving a programme which grows the economy of the region thereby
providing jobs for the youth. But some people are looking at it from ethnic
angle which they say is not good for one and united Nigeria. How do you
link the two?
People should think more of the development of the region/states via the
overall development of our nation than thinking about ethnicity. We have
gone far ahead of ethnicity in this country and that should be taken away
from our minds whenever we are talking about things that will help us
grow as components of the national entity. We must think about
development of our individual regional areas but we must also keep
ourselves together as a nation.
Major General Adeyinka Adebayo...
You have been much aware of the cries of marginalisation by leaders of
South-West where you are President of the Yoruba Council of Elders
(YCE). Some have blamed the reason for the marginalisation on you the
leaders of the race.
I think the people crying marginalisation are only Yoruba people now.
What I would say is that they should forget about whether or not we are
marginalised and face how we can develop ourselves as a component of
the national entity. We must develop the country and the way to develop
the country is to get the states to work. The first step to developing a
nation is to develop oneself, when you do that and some of your products
get to other areas, you then must ask for your entitlements from the centre
as a result of your contribution to the collective building of the nation.
We are in a federal system and we have states within the federation.
Therefore, whatever is due to each state must be given to it. I think it
would be unfair to the Yoruba people to be subjected to marginalisation to
the point that we shout that Federal Government has not given us our
entitlements whereas we are supposed to be part and parcel of the
government.
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, recently accused former
President Olusegun Obasanjo of taking the Yoruba to where they are. He
said he had the opportunity to do more than for his people while in office
but that was not done.
I am not prepared to comment on what Alaafin of Oyo said. Obasanjo was
President of the country. And as President, he was in charge of
development of the entire country. Obasanjo was not doing it all alone.
He had a team working with him and for the development of each area
within the federation and so, one should not be blaming Obasanjo now!
Why did you people not shout then when he was there, that he was not
doing the right thing for the Yoruba race?
I am not saying that Yoruba people have been given all their entitlements
but one must not put the blame on the head of Obasanjo because he was
a Yoruba man. At the same time, being a Yoruba leader and President of
the country almost concurrently, he should not be working on his own
tribe alone at the expense of others. That would have made it worse now
that the people are talking about it because he would have breached the
leadership trust that was put in him.
As a retired general…
(cuts in) But not tired (laughs).
Yes, retired (but not tired). You have other generals around you that
ordinarily should complement your efforts in moving the Yoruba race
forward: Generals Oladipo Diya, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and others. Yoruba
were said to be indifferent to their plight while they were awaiting pardon
as victims of the General Sani Abacha’s phantom coup. Now that they
have been pardoned but the gazette to clear them finally is being delayed,
what is your word to President Jonathan?
First and foremost, let me start by saying I am still a Major General, there
is no gainsaying that I am still respected in the society and so I can speak
my views to the top. President Jonathan has started well by pardoning
these generals and I can only advise him to complete it by ensuring that
the gazette regarding their pardon is published on time so that the grey
areas due to conflicting media reports as to who and who have benefited
will be cleared and the fine generals will be restored finally to their normal
lives with full enjoyment of their entitlements.
These are generals that have contributed their quotas to the building of
the nation. I mean, Diya lives near me here. He is a good man; a good
Yoruba man both inside and outside the military. The same thing is
General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, the late General Adisa and others.
In the first place, there was nothing they did that was bad so as to warrant
that sentence. But we thank God now that the President has done what is
necessary and pardon has been issued. But I am also aware that the
Army authority has not been able to effect the release of their entitlements
because of either the delay in the release of the gazette or that the
presidency has not officially informed them. This makes it necessary that
President Jonathan should see this as a major component of the laudable
effort he is making in ensuring that things get better in this country and he
should cause all those involved in the release of the gazette to do so
without delay.
Most Nigerians are not comfortable with the security challenges facing us
as a nation. If it is not Boko Haram, it is militants kidnapping people in
the Niger Delta or cultists killing police officers and, do not forget, that
Jos crisis has also not really subsided.
As far as security in Nigeria is concerned, it is the responsibility of the
Federal Government to ensure the security of lives and property and the
states to report whatever security challenges facing their respective
domains to the Federal Government as a way of putting a superb security
measure in place. By this I mean security is a participatory duty that,
even though it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure,
every good Nigerian has a role to play. The Federal Government will not
be everywhere; they will not be at the grassroots. What are those other
people doing? How are they taking proper care of their domains to ensure
that behaviours that are alien to their various communities are checked?
That takes us to the issue of corruption. This, apparently, has eaten deep
into the fabrics of our national life. Is it that government has not done
enough to tackle the scourge or the scourge has turned into a monster?
The fight against corruption is the responsibility of one, the government of
the federation; two, the governments of the states and the individuals.
Corruption is a disease that must be vigorously tackled by everybody.
The issue of power in 2015 is already heating up the polity: the Igbo are
clamouring, the Niger Delta megaphones won’t let go, yet the Northern
Elders Forum (NEF) has made clear its position that it must be North
come 2015. What do you think?
We do not know ourselves much yet and therefore we must continue to
work together. We should continue to bring everybody to work together to
get the right leadership. It does not matter where the leadership comes
from, but it must not come from one place all the time. At any rate,
leadership should go to the adequately qualified, efficient, honest person.
At the same time, we must not forget other areas.
Your government of Western Region faciliated the release of Chief
Obafemi Awolowo from prison after being convicted for treason. How did
you arrive at that decision?
We arrived at that decision because we discovered that there was no need
to put him in prison in the first instance. The old man did a lot of good
works for the country, for the Western Region and, when the military took
over from the civilian regime that put him in prison, it was the duty of the
military regime in power to release him. That was what we did. I worked
on the military on the need to release him and we agreed. Yes, we
brought him into the military government and he did a lot of good jobs for
us there.
So it was based on your recommendation that he became Federal
Commissioner for Finance?
Well, based on the recommendation of the government (laughs), he
became the Federal Commissioner for Finance and he did very well in that
position and improved the economy of the country.
I just want to be sure of the role you played in how Chief Awolowo moved
from prison to the office of the Federal Commissioner for Finance .
I recommended his release and he was released. And when we wanted to
bring some civilians into the military government, we felt he would be very
useful in the regime, and it turned out that he stood out of the pack. He
never disappointed us and we thank God he did not.
You just clocked 85 but still looking radiantly vibrant. What is your
birthday message for the younger generation?
One, you should be contented with what you have, with what you are and
you must put your mind on what you want to be in future. Then, if you do
not overwork yourself on what you do not need, on what you do not have,
then you would not have any problem.
You love the way I look at 85 because I have always lived my life as a
contented person. I am happy, simple and I look after my children and my
children look after me…
(cuts in) Including the former Ekiti State governor-son of the retired
general. (laughter)?
(Laughs) Yes.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/how-we-freed-awolowo-from-prison-to-join-gowons-govt-by-gen-adebayo/

So finally Awolowo people's hero was an ex convict too?

History sha.

omooba969:
History sha.

What is wrong with history? Is it because your hero was an ex convict?

the ogwu oke king

tigerclaws:
the ogwu oke king

Please please, stop dat before I laugh out my sense

odikimi:

What is wrong with history? Is it because your hero was an ex convict?

Everything is wrong with history as far as Nigeria is concerned because you haven't done your own research but relying on some concocted/ fabricated stories.

You have chosen to take comfort in the figment of some people's imagination which they call history.

Just imagine me saying Ken Saro-Wiwa was an ex-convict because he was tried by some idiotz who convicted & found him guilty.

Think about it.

omooba969:


Everything is wrong with history as far as Nigeria is concerned because you haven't done your own research but relying on some concocted/ fabricated stories.

You have chosen to take comfort in the figment of some people's imagination which they call history.

Just imagine me saying Ken Saro-Wiwa was an ex-convict because he was tried by some idiotz who convicted & found him guilty.

Think about it.

Please for yo information, Awolowo was convicted by a civil court and not some sort of military court. He was convicted by civilian government.
Going by what you are saying, we shouldn't take all convicts likely to be made by Buhari as concocted trials and conviction? please try harder dude

odikimi:

Please for yo information, Awolowo was convicted by a civil court and not some sort of military court. He was convicted by civilian government.
Going by what you are saying, we shouldn't take all convicts likely to be made by Buhari as concocted trials and conviction? please try harder dude

You have decided what you want to believe.

Enjoy.

omooba969:

You have decided what you want to believe.
Enjoy.

*painment*

Awo the ex-convict and ogwu oke drinker.